PM caves to ALP pressure on Palestine vote

Adam Gartrell, AAP Diplomatic Correspondent

The Labor backbench has forced Prime Minister Julia Gillard to abandon her plan to vote against a controversial Palestinian bid for upgraded United Nations status.

Australia will instead abstain from voting on the Palestinian resolution when it comes before the UN general assembly on Thursday, in a rare break from Israel and the United States.

The resolution is set to pass with the support of a large majority of the UN's 193 member states and will elevate Palestine's status to that of a non-member observer state.

Ms Gillard wanted to vote against the resolution but Foreign Minister Bob Carr led a cabinet push for an abstention. It is believed Ms Gillard overruled her cabinet colleagues on Monday but changed her position shortly before a Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday.

Advertisement

She told her colleagues she would support the abstention despite her personal reservations, heading off a looming backbench revolt over the vexed issue.

Ms Gillard later issued a statement saying the decision balanced the government's longstanding support for a Palestinian state with its belief that peace would only come through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Senator Carr confirmed he had advocated for an abstention but denied Ms Gillard was rolled by the party room.

"She most certainly wasn't. She shaped that decision in the parliament today," he told Sky News.

Ms Gillard had approached the discussions with an open mind and had showed smart leadership with her decision, he said.

Senator Carr admitted the Palestinian resolution posed risks - like potential Israeli retaliation - but said on balance it was a step in the right direction.

A yes vote would have been "a little incautious", he said.

The UN resolution will give Palestine the same international standing as the Vatican.

It comes a year after Mahmoud Abbas' failed push to achieve full UN membership and follows weeks of renewed, deadly tension between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Australia's decision is likely to anger Israel which hoped it could count on the Gillard government's support.

The Israeli embassy in Canberra has so far declined to publicly comment on the decision.

The head of the Palestinian delegation to Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, said the government's decision was an important moment in Australian foreign policy.

"We hope Australia will continue this process to become more balanced and even-handed, and become more independent of the positions of the United States," he told AAP.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said she was disappointed by the decision, and that the resolution was more likely to prolong the Middle East conflict than help end it.

"The coalition believes Australia should vote against this bid as we do not believe that this is the path to peace and reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples," she said in a statement.

But Greens Leader Christine Milne said the government should go a step further and support the resolution.